LJLA passenger numbers soar with best levels since 2011

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has well and truly bounced back from the Covid pandemic with its best passenger levels in 13 years.
It revealed it handled 5.1 million passengers in 2024, taking the airport beyond five million passengers for the first time since the pandemic and the highest passenger numbers handled since 2011, when both Ryanair and easyJet operated at their highest passenger levels from Liverpool.
The airport has seen growth in passenger numbers and services throughout 2024, bringing an increase of 21% compared with 2023, following the start of the Jet2.com and Jet2holidays operation and further expansion of services by easyJet and Ryanair.
In a year that also saw the airport voted the UK’s best airport in the Which? annual airport survey for the second year in a row, the number of destinations served direct from Liverpool increased to more than 70, with routes in the UK, Europe, North Africa and onward connections to the US via Dublin.
Looking ahead to 2025, work on several improvements to the passenger journey is well under way, with multimillion pound investments being made in the latest security screening equipment, upgraded and new food and beverage outlets and a new premium lounge.
These latest developments are due to be completed ahead of the busy summer period.
It will also help to cater for the expected continued growth in passenger numbers with both easyJet and Jet2.com basing additional aircraft at Liverpool in 2025, bringing more flights and more new destinations, along with the addition of a new airline as SunExpresss begins operations this summer for the first time.
John Irving, LJLA CEO, said: “2024 was a great year for the airport with a significant growth in passenger numbers as the region’s travellers took advantage of the growing flight programme and the faster, easier, friendlier benefits of flying from Liverpool.
“We are all really proud of the progress we have made to return to pre-Covid levels of business, whilst making sure we remained an award-winning airport that our customers love to use and we look forward to welcoming even more passengers through the airport in 2025 along with the latest improvements to our facilities.”